Smile
by ilivetosing
Summary: Holly Mistletoe was special. So special that she landed a job with Bernard, the head elf. She won't deny that she's weird. She dresses like a human and her hair is different. And to top it all off, she has this evil voice inside her that ruins everything for her. Bernard/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Five years before Scott Calvin came….

Mrs. Cane scurried down the hallway to Santa's office. She clutched the folder that contained grades that only the gods could only master. She knew only one other elf had scores like this in elf school and his name was Bernard. She blew a lone strand of gray hair out of her face. Mrs. Cane turned left down the candy-caned hallway where she saw Santa's office at the end. She knew that he had to check the list….twice, but it was only August and he needed to see what was in the folder. She put in a little hop into her step as she ran down the hall. She reached the door with a great halt.

Mrs. Cane withdrew a sharp breath and knocked on the door. There was a great grunt from inside the room and someone getting up from a seat. Big, heavy steps came towards the door. The big door opened and a rosy-cheeked man stood there, dressed in a red short-sleeved shirt and pants with red suspenders. There was no denying that this was the Santa Clause. The big, burly man smiled.

"What can I do for you, Mrs. Cane?" he said in a gentle tone. He moved out of the doorway and gestured her to come in. She ducked under his arm and sat in one of the red plush armchairs.

"Is Bernard here?" she asked quaintly.

"Here!" a muffled voice came from under a large pile of papers. A hand shot out and grabbed onto the polished wooden desk. Bernard pulled himself out of the mess around Santa's desk. "Honestly, Santa, this should have been done weeks ago!"

Santa just grunted and folded his arms over his chest and turned his attention to Mrs. Cane. "What brings you to this neck of the village?"

"I have some news about a student I've been teaching. She has extraordinary talents in all my subjects and I think she's becoming to challenging for me," she handed him the folder that contained the scores.

Santa took the folder into his large hands and opened it. He looked at the first score on the top of the page and scrolled through the entire folder. His eyebrows rose as he took a look at the last score on the page, then he handed the folder to Bernard.

"I've never seen such scores since Bernard was in school," Mrs. Cane shook her head. "She's one talented girl."

"What's her name?" Santa asked calmly.

She looked at him with her cold, gray eyes. "Holly, Holly Mistletoe."

Bernard almost dropped the folder. He was looking at Holly Mistletoe's grades! No, it must be the wrong elf. He handed the folder back to Mrs. Cane. "Please tell me this isn't the Holly Mistletoe that works in the reindeer division."

She nodded, "I came here to see if Santa would offer her a job working with you since she needs more of a challenge."

"But she has those seizures! And the elves say that she's crazy! They say she never smiles!" Bernard exclaimed.

"Hmm, kind of like you," she mumbled to herself. "She's had a troubled past. She never used to be like that, all that nonsense started after her mother left," Mrs. Cane gave him her cold stare and he shrunk back.

She turned back to Santa, "As you can see, this elf is very well qualified for the job,"

Santa was stroking his beard, now, thinking. This elf seems to be very talented and has not gotten in any kind of trouble at all, he thought. He kept thinking it over and over in his mind until he came to a decision. He walked over to where Mrs. Cane was sitting.

"Where would Holly be now?" he looked down at the small elf.

"I imagine that she'd either be finishing up with Rudolph or at her grandmothers' restaurant," she replied.

Santa turned around and walked up to Bernard. "Bernard, I want you to find Holly and bring her back to my office,"

A panicked look flashed across Bernard's face. "But, Santa, you need help up her-"

Santa cut him off and pointed to the door, "Go."

Bernard reluctantly walked over to the door and opened it. He scowled and stalked out the door, slamming the door in the process. He didn't want to work with her. Nobody wanted to work with her. She had no friends. Holly Mistletoe was one elf nobody liked. She dressed like a human, for Pete's sake! He jogged down the stairs that led into the reindeer division. He reached the bottom and looked around. No elves. Good, he thought, I don't need them seeing me taking Holly to see Santa. Bernard walked towards the stall that had Rudolph across the top, written in red.

* * *

"People ask why don't smile," Holly told Rudolph. "They ask why I'm so weird. I just say that I'm different. I'm taller than everybody in my class. I'm always called on. The voices, they're getting worse by the day, sometimes I wonder if I should leave, " she took the reindeer brush and started to brush through the knots on his back.

"I can't see why they would be mean to you, Holly. As far as I'm concerned, you're the best person in the world. And please, don't leave me," Rudolph said and his nose light up.

"Thanks, buddy," she patted him. "I got into another fight with Tinsel, he told me I shouldn't be coming here after school, but I told him that nobody else would take care of you," she said.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I could manage," he laughed.

"No you couldn't. How could you brush your back?" she giggled.

Rudolph turned around and lightly kicked her leg with his hoof, "Was that a giggle I heard from you?"

"Maybe. Turn back around, I'm not done," she said.

He did and they were quiet for a long time. Until Holly started humming a tune and then started to sing.

"I was left to my own devices," she sang softly, "many days fell away with nothing to show. And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love. Great clouds roll over the hills, bringing darkness from above."

Something from outside Rudolph's stall made her jump. Rudolph's ears perked up and he peered over the door and Holly went to the door slowly. She looked over the door and saw Bernard lying on the floor, a bucket rolling away.

"You have a nice voice," he said brushing himself off as he got up.

"What are you doing here?" she spat.

He looked up at the elf everybody said was nuts. From looking at her, he couldn't tell that she was crazy, apart from her hair and clothes. She was wearing a light blue short-sleeved t-shirt and skinny jeans with tears at the knees. Her hair had streaks of blue dye.

"Santa would like to see you," he said plainly.

Holly rolled her eyes, but put the brush back on the stand. "I'll be back, Rudolph."

He nodded. Holly unlatched his door and came out. She started to walk off towards the stairs without even acknowledging him.

"Hey!" he called after her.

She turned around, "Hurry up, then!"

Bernard ran after her as she started to run up the stairs.

_Why would Santa want to see me?_ she thought, _I didn't do anything bad, all I did was get into a fight with my older brother._ Her brow was furrowed as she thought. Finally, Bernard caught up with her. He didn't even need to tell her where Santa's office was, even though she was staring at the ground.

She thought most of the way to the office. Bernard had a hard time keeping up with her because she wasn't stopping.

"Why does Santa want to see me?" Holly asked as they turned down the candy-caned hallway.

"I'll have him explain it," he sighed.

They reached the door and Bernard opened the door for her. She walked in and hung by the door.

"G-good afternoon, Mrs. Cane," she stuttered, staring at her teacher. Holly felt Mrs. Cane's eye's warm as they looked up at her.

"Ah, Holly! I was just telling Mr. Clause of your wonderful test scores! Please, have a seat!" her teacher explained very cheerfully.

Holly gulped and sat in the red plush armchair next to her teacher.

"Mrs. Cane? Am I in trouble for my scores?" Holly asked uneasily.

"Why, of course not. In fact you're going to be praised," her teacher clapped her hands together and pointed to Santa.

"I've seen your test scores, Holly," Santa's loud, but gentle voice said, "and they match a similar elf. So, Mrs. Cane brought up the idea of having you work with Bernard since her teaching is becoming less challenging for you."

Air got caught in her throat. _Me? Working with Bernard? No, never in a million years!_ she thought. She looked up at Santa.

"So, what do ya say? Becoming the head elf's assistant?" he said happily.

"Ummm," she bit her lower lip. _It would mean that I wouldn't have to see my brother for a long time and I definitely want that. And I won't have to work as a_ _waitress!_ she thought, " Yes."

Santa clapped his hands together. Holly slowly looked up at Bernard. She met his eyes and he looked ticked. _I'm sorry,_ her eyes said, _but I had to do it._ Somehow, he understood what her eyes said.

"Bernard! Why don't you show her the workshop!" Santa clasped a hard hand on Bernard's shoulder.

"Of course," he said through his teeth.

Holly got up and thanked Santa. She hurried to the door and opened it, not waiting for Bernard, but she did wait for him outside. She paced outside the door. _What did I do? I'm dead meat when he gets out here_!

_You're dead meat anyway,_ something hissed inside her head. _You've been dead meat even since I've been in your head._ Something shot through her skull, bringing Holly to her knees.

_"Get out!_" she screamed, but it attacked more. A cold, burning sensation was going through her brain, as if someone was trying to freeze it.

Bernard heard the scream and burst out the door. He looked down at Holly, clutching her head.

"Please, get out! I can't it anymore!" she cried. She was rocking back and forth on her knees.

Bernard dropped to the floor and shook her. "Hey! Snap out of it!" he shook her harder. He shook and he shook, but she wouldn't come out of it. "I am so sorry I had do this," he said, but it was his only option right now. "It might hurt a little," he brushed the hair out of her face and smacked her across the face.

"Owww!" she yelped, holding her cheek. "Why did you do that! It hurt!"

He got up and helped her up. "I had too. You were screaming," a deep feeling of compassion formed in the pit of his stomach as he remembered what it looked like. He grimaced.

"You heard that?" she asked.

He smiled, "Yeah," he started to walk down the hall and she ran after him. "What was that about?"

"I don't know, I've always had this sinister voice inside my head that tries to hurt me," she said shakily, " it hears what I think. And I don't know how to stop it. It's just…. there."

"Well, it better stay away because I'm here," he smiled at her. Surprisingly, he didn't have to look down, they were the same height.

"Ooh, is someone Mr. Nice Guy?" she laughed.

He stopped, " You smiled," he pointed at her, "I heard you talking to Rudolph and you said you never smile."

She smiled again, "Maybe it's a new turn for me. No more being that depressed little elf!" she declared.

"Good because your face glows when you smile," he told her.

"Oh really?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," he said.

"Yours does too," she confessed.

She linked arms with him and put her head on his shoulder. He didn't push her off like her brother did. He just let her be. For some reason, it felt nice to have someone to talk to. Both of them knew that it was a new turn for both of them and that they would soon be inseparable.

* * *

A/N: What up! I'm back! i don't know how long I've been gone but it feels like forever. don't ask me why I haven't updated any of my other stories, I'm taking a break on those and doing a christmas story in spite of the holiday spirit. R&R will be lovely! Or just telling me that I'm awesome is fine. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Christmas Eve when SC came…

"Comet, you'll be fine. It's just like every year," Holly tried to calm one of the lead reindeer. "What's gotten into you, boy?"

Comet shook his head and pawed at the ground. Holly bit her lip and started to pace. What could be wrong with him? she thought. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in her head. She ran to where the feed was and grabbed a carrot. He never got his treat, that's what's wrong with him, she thought. She brought it back to him and he took it gently.

"Good boy," she patted his head. She turned around and let the other elves put on the gear so that they could hook him up to the sleigh. Holly went over to Rudolph's stall.

"Hey, buddy," she greeted. He looked up at her with sad, brown eyes. "Maybe, they'll need you next year," she tried, but he just shook his head.

"They only needed me for that one foggy Christmas Eve," he sighed. Rudolph turned around to lay down, but Holly grabbed his small antler and made him look at her.

"They will need you," she told him strictly, "and, if you don't stop talking like that, I guess I won't give you this nice, juicy apple I picked from my grandmother's apple tree. I know how much you love these," she pulled out a shiny red apple and Rudolph's mouth began to water.

"Alright! I'll stop!" he yelled.

Holly smiled and gave him the apple. She patted his head and turned around to find Bernard. She knew that she should look by the sleigh because it was almost take off time. Holly didn't have to walk far because the sleigh was in the next room.

"But Santa!" Bernard's distressed voice came from the sleigh. "Please, it's windy out and you could fall off a roof! You need to take precaution!"

"Calm down, Bernard," Holly reassured him, "how long has he done this?"

"Well-" he began.

"A long time and he hasn't fallen off a roof yet, so what makes you think he'll fall off a roof this year?" she put her hands on her hips.

"I don't know, I just have this feeling in my stomach," he looked down at the ground.

"Well, good luck, Santa," she smiled up at the big elf, "Unfortunately, I have an essay due tomorrow, so I can't see you take off,"

"Well, I hope you get a wonderful score on that essay. Lovely hair, really into the Christmas spirit!" Santa pointed out her red and green streaked hair.

"Thanks, I tried really hard," she said sarcastically. "Toodles!"

She turned on her heel and went to her apartment. She walked through the workshop and made sure that everybody was doing something. She wasn't strict like Bernard. He never allowed any fun. She did, of course! What's the point in life without any fun? Now, she only let the elves have fun every once in a while, not all the time. Holly opened the doors that lead out into the village. Some of the elves might have said it was cold, but to here, it was warm. So warm, that she wore a short-sleeved shirt almost every day.

She ran down the stairs and started to walk to Candy Lane. She sighed as she remembered her older brother's face when she told him that she got a job far away from him. Well, not as far as she would like, but it was better than nothing. Tinsel protested and protested to their grandmother, telling her that Holly couldn't go, she was to young. Her grandmother let her go. Thank her, she thought. Boy, was Tinsel mad. He lashed out irrationally. It was so bad that Holly left a week early.

Now, she lived in the same building as Bernard. It wasn't as bad as she first thought. They lived at different ends of a hall. She walked up the steps and opened the buildings' door. Her nose was met with the smell of cinnamon.

"Oh no, the old lady's gone crazy! She's doing witchcraft with cinnamon!" Holly mumbled and rolled her eyes. She jogged up the steps to the first floor and turned to the right. She walked until she reached number 41. Holly took out her keys and unlocked the door. She walked in and threw her keys onto the kitchen counter. She sighed and went to her desk. She looked at the watches she made in the workshop a couple months ago. They connect you to the other person who has the other one.

"I think I might need these," she said to herself and she put them in her pocket. Then, she grabbed a pencil and started on her essay.

Holly didn't get very far before she fell asleep. She was in the middle of paragraph 5 when sleep hit her.

* * *

A/N: I know it's short. please, don't dis my style of music. I actually like Pompeii by Bastilles. Well, R&R is good OR you could just tell me how wonderful I am! :)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Holly groggily pushed herself into the upright position. Her vision was still blurry, but she could see the light that her lamp illuminated on the red painted walls. She sat on the ground for a couple of minutes until her vision came into focus. Holly surveyed the room. Her desk chair was lying on its side and about everything that was on her desk was now on the green carpeted floor.

"That's new," she muttered. Holly has had nightmares like the one she had. They're too gruesome to describe, the torture she's put through in those nightmares, its despicable. She felt her head, checking for any wounds. Sure enough, on the left back side, she felt something liquid and looked at her hand. Blood. She got up and got an ice pack out of the freezer. She held it to her head. About ten minutes later, the wound was almost gone and all that was left was some dried blood. Holly put the ice pack in the sink to wash the blood off of it.

All of a sudden, a loud chain of bangs came from the hallway and Holly heard many elves say, "There's a new Santa!" Her eyes widened and she grabbed her keys and ran out the door, locking it behind her. The hallway was almost filled with little elves.

"Out of the way! Second top elf coming through!" Holly yelled well above the heads of the others. Once she said that, every one cleared out. She ran down the hallway and practically flew down the stairs. She pushed through the doors with such force that they hit the building and ran up Candy Lane. She across the town square and up the workshop steps. She burst through the doors and into the hallway to the right. She ran down that hallway until she found an adjoining hallway that lead to the left. Then went to the right 2 more times, to the left 3 times and when she turned to the right a fourth time, she saw Bernard at the end of it and some other man in the Santa suit.

Holly ran up behind him just as a little child with brown hair and eyes complained to the man in the Santa suit.

"Hey," she said, which made him jump a little, "you've got no idea how fast I ran to get here," she bent down and put her hands on her knees to rest, "This better be important, I'm dying of to much exercise!"

"And who might this young lady be?" the stranger in the Santa suit asked Holly, he extended his hand to shake. "I'm Scott Calvin."

Holly straightened up and folded her arms over her chest, not accepting the handshake, "Holly Mistletoe, second head elf I liked to be called."

"She's my assistant," Bernard corrected, glancing at Holly.

"You always have to kill my fun," Holly rolled her eyes and mumbled.

"Dad!" the little child tugged on the sleeve of the Santa coat.

Holly bent down to the child's height, "Hi, buddy," she greeted. "If you haven't heard I'm Holly,"

"I'm Charlie," he held out his left hand because the right one held a snow globe. She shook it gently.

"Nice to meet you Charlie. How 'bout we go down to the kitchen and get you something to eat and drink," she smiled.

"Yeah!" Charlie exclaimed.

Holly straightened up, "Well, Charlie and I are going to the kitchen, while you two do… do… do whatever you do."

She held out her hand and Charlie took it. She began to walk down the hallway to their left. She let go of Charlie's hand and turned around, but still walked backwards, "See you later, Santa!"

Holly quickly turned around and grabbed hold of Charlie's hand again. "I'm not Santa Clause!"

Bernard looked at Holly as she walked down the hallway. As she passed in front of him to take Charlie, he couldn't help notice that she had a dark red spot on her head. At first, he thought it was just red hair dye, but then he realized that it was much darker than the dye.

* * *

Holly and Charlie made it to the kitchen in record time. She walked over to one of the elves that was making cookies, she bent down and whispered something in her ear. The elf nodded and ran off to fetch the items Holly asked for. She led Charlie to one of the tall chairs that was pushed into the long, wooden table and she pulled it out for him. He sat down and Holly pulled out the chair next to him.

"How old are you, Holly?" Charlie looked up at her with his big brown eyes.

Ooh, I'm 1698," she said.

"You're old!" Charlie said.

"Hey, in my book, I'm pretty young," she laughed. "And here's your hot chocolate and a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie."

The elf that Holly had sent away was now back with a tray that had a silver steaming cup on it and a cookie that was the size of a jar lid. The elf put the tray in front of Charlie and hurried off to her station. Charlie ate the cookie and drank the hot chocolate under five minutes.

"Would you like a tour of the workshop?" Holly asked.

"Yeah!" Charlie jumped up.

Holly got up and pushed in her chair and Charlie's, since he was too small. She walked over to the big doors that led into the workshop. She showed Charlie everything there was to see in the workshop.

"Have you ever made anything in here?" Charlie asked her while he was watching stuffed animals go down a conveyor belt.

"Yeah," she put her hand into her left pocket. "In fact, I have one of them with me," she pulled out the watches.

"Really?" he turned around.

"Yeah," she held them out to him. "Would you like one?"

He nodded and Holly fastened it around his right wrist, "Thank you. What do they do?"

"They connect you to the other person, no matter where you are," she informed him as she put hers on her left wrist. "Just push that button on the side to call me or end a call. You can see the person's face and hear them. Push the button on the left to turn it into a clock so that nobody knows what it really is."

"Cool," Charlie gazed at the watch.

"Here's your train. That's Judy," Holly pointed to the elf sitting on the train. "Anytime you want to talk, just call me on the watch."

"I will, Holly," Charlie climbed onto the train. "Bye!" he waved as the train took off.

"Bye, Charlie!" Holly waved back. She turned around and almost ran into someone.

* * *

A/N; What up, my people! Did you think I abandoned you? *laughs uneasily to self* I would never do that. Seriously. I didn't have the laptop or a long time, so that's why this took awhile to update. I'm also updating one of my other stories too; And She Will Be Loved. You should so check it out. R&R is always good or just telling me that I'm epic! Which I am! :)


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